Sandman thoughts

[owlmoose]

Like many fannish folk of my approximate age, I've been waiting 30 years for this adaptation, with a mix of gleeful excitement and terror that Netflix would somehow mess it up. I am pleased to report that they did not, in my opinion, mess it up; certainly I have my quibbles with it, but in the main I enjoyed it a lot, had many moments of fangirl glee, and even really liked some of the changes.

Probably my most serious -- not complaint, really, but comment -- that's specific to the adaptation rather than being grounded in the original text (for an example of the latter, see the depiction of Despair) is the pacing. Maybe I'm biased, because "A Doll's House" is my second-favorite arc (after "Brief Lives"), but I wish they'd struck a different balance between the first two volumes. "Preludes and Nocturnes" is a necessary introduction to the overarching story, but it's one of the weaker arcs, and it's kind of a shame that we had to spend five episodes on it, followed by a bridge episode, meaning "A Doll's House" only gets four episodes, which to my mind was a little rushed. I feel like they could have spent a little less time on Ethel and John Dee, and much less time with Cain and Abel, and gotten to the search for the tools a little quicker. It's not a major issue, though, and there are so many more things I was happy with.

The casting was A++ throughout -- not a single person felt off to me, and most of them are brilliant. Much of the imagery was spot-on, with several shots that leapt directly from the page, and even when they made changes it always felt right, like they were evoking the right mood. And there were a number of more substantial changes I liked a lot: giving John Dee an actual motive of wanting the universe to be a more truthful place (as opposed to the vague hand-wavy "madness for madness sake" of the comics); John giving Rosemary the amulet of protection; building up a stronger relationship between Lucienne and Morpheus, and allowing Morpheus some character growth as a result; bringing Matthew into the story earlier and tying Lyta more directly to Rose Walker; giving Lyta more agency in her choice to be with Hector in the dreamworld instead of a prisoner of Brute and Glob; ditching Brute and Glob entirely in favor of Gault, a new character whom I dearly love and who brings in a nice contrast to Dream and his reluctance to change; and last but certainly not least Rose gathering together a new found family at the end rather than coming out of her experience cold and disconnected. I re-read the first two volumes for the first time in ages after finishing the season, just to remind myself of how everything happened in the comics, and I found almost nothing that gave me a twinge of nostalgia, of "oh I missed that, I wish they'd done that instead." I guess the other thing I'm not entirely on board with is the change to The Corinthian: making him a sort of overarching big bad when he doesn't fit into the first arc very well. But I suppose they wanted more themes that would stretch out over the whole season, so I can't argue with the decision too much.

If you haven't read the comic and are thinking of watching the show, or have started watching it and are unsure about it, because the main character has such a flat affect and/or if you think he comes off as a bit of a dick -- you're not wrong. That's the character; that's who he is. Even in the comics, you weren't always supposed to sympathize with him, and I think that aspect comes through even more clearly here. (If Tom Sturridge were playing Dream as exuberant, emotive, kindly, or warm, he would be doing it wrong.) But he does grow and become a bit more likable, sometimes, and when he's not likable, that's the point. So I encourage you to give it a chance. And if you're a worried fan, like I was, I hope my thoughts here can help assuage your fears. I don't guarantee that you're going to like it -- maybe your tastes or your reasons for loving it are different than mine. But it's worth at least a try.